Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit has said Boeing Co. will invest in the $ 3.2 billion SPAC list planned by the satellite launch startup later this year, an investment that comes as the aircraft maker’s space program faces obstacles.
Virgin Orbit announced that it would be listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange by merging with NextGen Acquisition Corp., a specialist acquisition company led by former Goldman Sachs banker George Mattson and Greg Summe, a former senior executive of the Carlyle Group .
Boeing’s planned investment, which the Wall Street Journal first reported on Monday, is the result of a PSPC-linked fundraiser called Private Equity Investment, or PIPE. This fundraiser raised a total of $ 100 million in pledges, Virgin Orbit said. The company did not specify how much of that would come from Boeing. Boeing did not immediately return requests for comment Monday morning.
Private equity fund AE Industrial Partners LP will also invest in PIPE, Virgin said. AE Industrial Partners did not immediately return a request for comment early Monday.
Virgin Orbit’s plans to search for a PSPC-related listing were first reported earlier this year by the Journal.
Boeing’s planned investment coincides with its struggles with its own space company. The launch of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft, which the company hoped would allow it to eventually send manned missions from NASA to the International Space Station, was delayed earlier this month due to faulty valves.
Virgin Orbit’s planned listing comes as investors increasingly bet on lower costs of accessing space for business, tourism and scientific research. Mr. Branson’s Virgin Group owns 80% of Virgin Orbit, with Mubadala Investment Co., the UAE’s sovereign wealth fund, holding the remainder.
“This is another important step in enabling everyone working today to develop space technology that will positively change the world,” said Mr. Branson.
Earlier this year, Mr Branson defeated fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos in space on a high-profile trip that took him aboard a Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. spacecraft more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the above the Earth. While Virgin Galactic focuses on space tourism, Virgin Orbit’s business is launching satellites.
Virgin Orbit has successfully completed two satellite launches this year, making the company a small group of small satellite launch vendors capable of delivering flight-proven hardware. The Southern California-based company uses a launch method that is unique among its competitors. A converted jumbo jet releases a rocket, which then fires and carries its payload of small satellites into orbit.
This story was posted from an agency feed with no text editing
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